Seven members visited the campus to interact with students and learn about Khalifa University’s long term objectives
Khalifa University hosted seven members of the United Kingdom’s Parliament on Monday November 18th 2013. The members were given the opportunity to tour the campus with senior management engage with students and view the state of the art facilities and laboratories of the University.
The delegation included Members of Parliament (MP’s) Jackie Doyle-Price Henry Smith Andrew Stephenson John Leech Gemma Doyle Ian Lucas and Kevan Jones. The MP’s visited Khalifa University in order to to learn about the University’s objectives and its long-term plans to give technical expertise to Emiratis in order to enable the country to diversify towards high tech industries.
The MP’s visited the Etisalat BT Innovation Center (EBTIC) which is a specialized research center and the first of its kind in the region. EBTIC is based on a partnership between the UAE’s Telecommunications Corporation Khalifa University and British Telecom (BT). Since the Center was founded it has published more than 225 research papers in various scientific journals and has also submitted with Khalifa University over 18 patents which account for more than half the patents submitted by Abu Dhabi.
They also visited the UAE Advanced Network for Research and Education (ANKABUT) who briefed them on how they connect educational institutions using a state of the art high-speed network. This network connects UAE’s educational and research institutions to other networks located in the United States Europe and Singapore. This connection helps to facilitate the exchange of scientific information and research.
The delegation toured Khalifa University’s nuclear energy lab. The state of the art lab is being used by students to conduct experiments to measure the corrosion of materials under thermal stress and salt water.
The MP’s also visited the Robotics Research Center where they met with a number of researchers and students who briefed them on various types of ground and air robots which can be used in a number of ways including geographical security and logistical support for multiple industries including border control and oil and gas supply lines.
The MP’s were given the chance to explore the Biomedical Engineering laboratory where they were briefed on a study being conducted on the movement of the human body which is being done in collaboration with labs in Europe. The study looks at how individuals who suffer from physical disabilities move in a three-dimensional space. They also visited the genetics lab where KU researchers are analyzing DNA and identifying the genes responsible for certain diseases including diabetes.
Finally the MP’s also reviewed projects by KU students including ones dealing with smart devices satellites and social networks for education research and wireless networks.
“We are honored by this visit from members of the United Kingdom’s Parliament ” said Dr. Tod Laursen Khalifa University’s President. “We’re pleased that they had a chance to review our students past and current research projects some of which have won a number of awards in competitions and forums both locally and globally. Khalifa University strives to be a world class institution as envisioned by the Abu Dhabi 2030 vision and our research and the accomplishments of our students and faculty demonstrate that and it was wonderful to be able to showcase those accomplishments to an international audience.”
